River Radamus L’Eclipse Courchevel : PHOTO GEPA

Who is skiing, when and how to watch the Thursday, February 9th World Championship Courchevel men’s super-G

The reports from the FIS and coaches are that the surface on the L’Eclipse race hill is excellent. The Swiss coach Thomas Stauffer has set the course with a minimum of 38 gates meaning it will be fast. After seeing the combined super-G Tuesday racers know the hill will provide a challenge for everyone wanting to be World Champion.

Two athletes from two nations have won all six of the 2022-23 World Cup men’s super-Gs. Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt has won four and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has won two. Switzerland and Austria each have three athletes with podiums and Italy has two. The only other nation with a 2022-23 podium is France. However, one of Austria’s athletes retired midseason and only two Austrian 2022-23 super-G podium racers will compete tomorrow.

While Odermatt and Kilde will be the prerace favorites to become World Champions, there is a lot of speedy talent in the field. Six other athletes on the start list also have 2022-23 podiums including Alexis Pinturault, Vincent Kriechmayr, Loic Meillard, Stephen Rogentin, Mattia Casse and Dominik Paris. This group of talent will certainly provide an exciting race and fill the podium but perhaps the day will provide an exciting surprise.

While World Cup points are not awarded at the Olympics and World Championships, World Cup Start List points are assigned to the top 15. With the reduced field size of a World Championship, often a surprising athlete will benefit and move up the start list.

Current World Cup men’s super-G standings as of February 8th

North American teams will start eight athletes, Alpine Canada Alpin will start four, and the Stifel US Alpine Team will start four. Currently, the best-ranked North American male super-G skier is Canada’s James Crawford, 14th and the best-ranked Stifel US Alpine Team member is Olympic silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle, 20th. Additionally, USA’s Travis Ganong skied to a World Cup super-G podium last season and stood on the downhill podium in Kitzbühel the last time he raced. Notably, on Tuesday, USA’s River Radamus finished 5th in his super-G on the L’Eclipse race hill. It is certainly possible that one of the surprises will come from the North Americans.

North Americans scheduled to start in the February 9th Courchevel World Championship super-G

• Bib 10, James Crawford, ACA, Whistler Mountain Ski Club, HEAD
• Bib 19, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, USST, Mt Mansfield Ski Club, Cochran’s Ski Club, HEAD, SWIX, ASP
• Bib 20, Jeffery Read, ACA, Banff Alpine Racers, Atomic, UVEX
• Bib 23, Brodie Seger, ACA, Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Atomic
• Bib 24, Broderick Thompson, ACA, Whistler Mountain Ski Club, HEAD, Oakley
• Bib 26, Travis Ganong, USST, Team Palisades Tahoe, 
• Bib 33, Kyle Negomir, USST, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, Atomic
• Bib 34, River Radamus, USST, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, Taos Ski Valley, Rossignol, Look, SWIX, ASP

The race will begin at 5:30 am Eastern Time and 2:30 am on the West Coast. Remember, a live simulcast and full replay are available, with Steve Porino and Steve Schlanger announcing on Ski and Snowboard Live and a live simulcast on Peacock.

 

 In Canada, CBC sports offers Alpine World Championship racing content.

Courchevel men’s super-G World Championship start list and Program for Thursday, February 9th

Courchevel World Championship men’s super-G daily program